Mark Tucker, the jazz pianist, author and scholar, will discuss and demonstrate Thelonious Monk's piano technique on Tuesday, April 18, in the final program of the Center for Jazz Studies' spring 2000 lecture series.

Tucker, a professor at the College of William and Mary who is the author of books about Duke Ellington and has performed at the Kennedy Center and the Smithsonian Institution, will draw on his forthcoming book, "Blue Sphere: The Music of Thelonious Monk," to be published by Oxford University Press, in his lecture/performance at 8 P.M. in Philosophy Hall. The lecture is open to the public at no charge.

In discussing Monk's piano technique, Tucker will revive a subject that has split critics and musicians. While Monk is acclaimed as a bold innovator and major composer, some view his technical abilities on the piano as limited, and even deficient. Others feel technique is his strongest asset.

In his talk, Tucker plans to redress the imbalance by taking a close look at the salient traits that defined Monk's keyboard technique -- from hand and arm position to aspects of tone production, articulation, weighting of chords, patterns of embellishment, and use of register. Tucker will compare early-to-late recordings in Monk's career, showing how he modified and varied his approach over time.

The Center for Jazz Studies, founded and director by Professor Robert O'Meally, is the first academic center in the United States dedicated to exploring the interaction between jazz and American culture. This is the center's inaugural year at Columbia.